By Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort
CARLSBAD, California — As I watch events unfold around the world, particularly events having to do with antisemitism, which now mostly takes the form of anti-Israelism, and anti-Americanism, I often become frustrated. Many of us saw troubling signs decades ago but were called all sorts of unsavory names (like fascists, fanatics, racists and warmongers), or worse, ignored altogether. The very things that concerned me are rising to the top of today’s political and societal debates.
Do you recall when Israel enjoyed robust bipartisan support? I do. Not anymore. The anti-Israel sentiment came out most dramatically when Israel stood against the ‘Iran Deal’ a decade ago. It turns out that those of us against that deal were not and are not warmongers at all. It turns out that Iran has never dropped its homicidal aspirations against Israel and the Jewish people. It turns out that when Israel called upon the US to include Iran’s ballistic missile program in the deal’s strictures, it was right to do so. Possession of this type of advanced weaponry in the hands of antisemitic, anti-Western fanatics is extremely dangerous and deadly.
The truth is that the seeds of today’s form of antisemitism can be traced back many decades, well before the Iran deal.
Since Israel’s breathtaking victory during the Six Day War, when Israel had the ‘audacity’ to win a conflict not of its making, many important ‘power players’ turned on Israel, in a big way.
There are consequences to the enmity harbored against the lone Jewish state.
The legacy media, aka mainstream media, has harbored a severe anti-Israel bias for decades. It holds Israel to a different standard than any other country, except maybe the US. In fact, it holds Israel to an impossible and deeply hypocritical standard. The reports about Israel are slanted against Israel, sometimes in subtle ways and sometimes blatantly. But the bottom line is when one reads about (fake) criticisms of Israel, or even disproportionate criticisms, an anti-Israel bias will certainly evolve.
For instance, when the legacy media harps on Jewish people adding onto their homes in Judea and Samaria (what they call the West Bank), but overlooks non-stop Arab provocations against Israel, like attempted murder and brainwashing their children to be human bombs, one cannot help but develop an anti-Israel antipathy. When the media is hyper-focused on Israel’s every day, democratic institutions, which by their very nature have an element of chaos in them, the overall picture is distorted.
Here is another example of jaundiced reporting that feeds into the anti-Israel narrative. During the course of this current war the media focuses intently on every death in Gaza. It routinely echoes the reports of casualties promulgated by the Hamas Health Ministry. The Hamas Health Ministry is run by Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization that is still holding hostages, which murdered and raped thousands, that threw babies into ovens, which decapitated its victims, and which routinely lies about anything and everything.
The media also runs false reports comparing the number of Gazan civilians who have reportedly died, and the number of Israeli citizens that have been murdered.
Here is the difference: every Israeli civilian was purposely targeted by Hamas. Every Gazan died despite Israel’s documented and proven efforts to avoid civilian casualties. The media should report on how many civilians were purposely targeted by Hamas versus those purposely targeted by Israel, but for some reason, that is not the way the news is conveyed. Here is the answer to that question; zero Gazan civilians have been purposely targeted by Israel, while millions of Israelis, indeed all Israelis, have been purposely targeted by Hamas. See the difference?
The failure of the media to ask pro-Hamas activists even simple questions about their slogans and the positions they advocate is mind-boggling. For instance, why aren’t the professional activists (yes, those being paid to protest Israel), being asked what exactly do they mean by ‘Free Palestine?’ Why aren’t they challenged when they falsely assert that Jews have no historical connection to the Land of Israel? Why aren’t they challenged that their slogans are equivalent to calling for the genocide of the Jewish people and the utter destruction of the lone Jewish state? What do they mean when they falsely claim that ‘Palestine is occupied’?
Here is another question the mainstream media has astonishingly not bothered to ask: how is it that massive, well organized and well financed ‘anti-Israel’ protests broke out in the days after October 7th, ’23, BEFORE Israel went into Gaza to defend itself from terrorists, and to stop the continual missile and rocket attacks?
Strange, no? Maybe, just maybe, these demonstrations had foreknowledge of the October 7th attacks, which would make them coconspirators? Isn’t such a line of questioning warranted? Where is the insatiable curiosity of the media?
When a Jewish Israel is constantly blamed for every ‘pimple’ in the lives of Arabs in the Middle East, it is bound to leave a mark. And, by golly, it certainly has.
Together with the anti-Israel media bias we have the heavily jaundiced academic scene in the US and around the world.
When the mass, well financed and organized protests against Israel (and the Jews who support Israel) broke out on October 8th, 2023, many of our coreligionists were shocked and aghast at the vitriol being demonstrated. When No-Zionists-Allowed zones popped up in places like UCLA, many didn’t know what hit them.
Consequences happened.
We have not fought effectively for the narrative in the halls of academia, and therefore those who are hostile towards Israel have controlled what is taught and how it is taught. Consequently, a whole generation of university students are hostile towards the lone liberal democracy in the Middle East and instead are sympathetic to those who would gladly murder their gay friends, treat women as property, and murder those who demonstrate against them.
When Israel is robustly and unfairly vilified for decades, it leaves a mark.
Why has such a virulent anti-Israel bias evolved on campuses across the world? Could the answer have anything to do with donations that pour into the coffers of these institutions of higher education? Isn’t such a line of questioning deserving of some ink?
The US and Europe have encouraged mass immigration from countries openly hostile to Israel and Jews for years. And yet we wonder where these minions of college students and young activists (and aspiring politicians) who march against Israel come from?
When they chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” they are, in fact, calling for another Holocaust, no less than genocide against the Jewish people. That is an open call for genocide couched in anti-Israel rhetoric. Where do they suggest all the Jews living in what they refer to as ‘Palestine’ go? They often answer, “back to Europe.” As if Jews originate in Europe (ask the Europeans about that concept). Why won’t the legacy media ask the demonstrators ask this simple question?
There are consequences to bringing in hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people who were raised on a steady diet of anti-Israel / antisemitic policy and sentiment. These people heard anti-Israel / antisemitic sermons in their local mosques from the time they could speak and understand. And yet we are surprised that they brought that antisemitism here with them and that they are rising through American and European society to positions of great influence.
And now we watch as the State Department (finally) goes after those who have abused our immigration ‘system’ and are revoking the visas of those who advocate antisemitism and anti-Americanism. These people have proactively ACTED in an antisemitic, anti-Western Civilization way. They clearly support a terrorist-designated organization (Hamas), something that is not consistent with the commitments they made to come to this country. They are finally being held accountable.
This is not a matter of politics nor of ‘free speech.’ This is a matter of survival. We cannot afford to be so open minded that our brains fall out! I find it remarkable that people engage in all sorts of mental calisthenics to try and justify the rights of these terrorist enablers. They do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. Why not? Because there is no doubt! They openly advocate for the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel. That necessarily means the death of many, many Jews, G-d forbid! That is genocide.
Perhaps some of us reflexively fight against the deportation of these very bad people because of hatred of the administration calling for it to happen. That is illogical. Deporting these people makes all of us safer. It is that simple. Calling out Iran as the deadly enemy it is, and finally treating it as such, makes us all safer.
It is a bit nauseating that many who know better are becoming hyper-sensitive free speech advocates. If these demonstrations were taking place against Muslims, or ethnic minorities, or any vulnerable minority for that matter they would be out there counter-demonstrating and demanding that the Universities put an immediate end to it. Somehow, the Jews are not afforded the same sympathies and protections.
Why not?
Consequences. These are the consequences of antisemitism, false narratives, and misplaced revolutionary zeal.
Put another way, if someone advocates for the same thing that the Chinese, Russians, or Iranians want, they need a careful self-analysis, because something is very wrong.
There has never been a clearer distinction between the moral and the immoral, and yet there seems to be more confusion than any time in the last several decades.
It is incumbent upon all Jews and freedom loving people to speak out loudly and clearly, taking the moral high-ground and battling to ensure that the true narrative is the story that is reported and taught. Nothing less will suffice!
*
Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort is spiritual leader of Chabad at La Costa.